Server, data transfer method, and recording medium

ABSTRACT

A receiving unit receives a processing request from a client, requesting acquisition of data including a plurality of elements from a database. An acquiring unit acquires first data and data structure information from the database in response to the first processing request. A generating unit replaces a first element with a first identifier and generates a second data including the first identifier and the second elements. A transmitting unit transmits the second data to the client.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is based upon and claims the benefit of priority fromthe prior Japanese Patent Application No. 2008-21594, filed on Jan. 31,2008; the entire contents of which are incorporated herein by reference.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention

The present invention relates to a server that performs a data transferwith a client, a data transfer method, and a computer-readable recordingmedium.

2. Description of the Related Art

Conventionally, there have been database servers that search for datastored in a database and transfer the data as a search result to aclient. Recently, to accommodate huge data, a distributed databasesystem has been established, in which a plurality of database serversrespectively having a database and a coordinator server are connectedwith each other via a network. In such a distributed database system, aclient receives the data as the search result from the database servervia the coordinator server. In the distributed database system, becausethe data is distributed and arranged in a plurality of databases, thecoordinator server can access the database servers in parallel.Therefore, performance improvement corresponding to the number ofdatabases can be expected. On the other hand, data transfer on thenetwork required for transferring data between the coordinator serverand the database server or between the database servers increases anoverhead considerably. The same can be mentioned for a networkinterconnected at a high speed. Therefore, distribution effect largelydecreases and the expected performance improvement may not be desired.

To deal with such a problem, a method of compressing data transferredbetween servers (transfer data) has been proposed. For example, JapanesePatent No. 3747525 proposes a practical method of transferring onlyrecord ID from a data server to a front end server at the time ofsearch, and converting the record ID to an actual record in the dataserver at the time of fetching.

In the method of compressing the transfer data, the effect becomes largeas compressibility increases. However, because in a character stringwith no regularity, the compressibility thereof is about 30%, and it isdifficult to greatly reduce the transfer data.

Further, the method described in Japanese Patent No. 3747525 hasfollowing two problems. If a transaction in which the record is searchedand a result record is sequentially updated is assumed, the effect issufficient and responsiveness can be improved. However, in a case that arecord list of a search result is instantaneously formed as in a normalfull text search, a transfer amount of data increases and it iswasteful. Further, in an either-or case such that the transfer data iseither record ID or actual record, it can be inconvenient. For example,it is inconvenient in a case that nonstandard data such as extensiblemarkup language (XML) data is handled. In this case, there can beinconveniences such that data is insufficient in the former case, anduseless data transfer is made in the latter case. This is because in thecase of nonstandard data, the size of the data to be extracted cannot bepredicted.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

According to one aspect of the present invention, there is provided aserver including a receiving unit that receives a processing requestfrom a client, requesting acquisition of data including a plurality ofelements from a database; an acquiring unit that acquires first data anddata structure information indicating association between the elementsand positioning of the elements in the first data from the database inresponse to the processing request; a determining unit that determineswhether to replace each of the elements with an identifier based on thedata structure information to set an element determined to be replacedwith the identifier as a first element and the elements other than thefirst element as second elements; a generating unit that replaces thefirst element with a first identifier and generates a second dataincluding the first identifier and the second elements; and atransmitting unit that transmits the second data to the client.

Furthermore, according to another aspect of the present invention, thereis provided a data transfer method including receiving a processingrequest from a client, requesting acquisition of data including aplurality of elements from a database; acquiring first data and datastructure information indicating association between the elements andpositioning of the elements in the first data from the database inresponse to the processing request; determining whether to replace eachof the elements with an identifier based on the data structureinformation to set an element determined to be replaced with theidentifier as a first element and the elements other than the firstelement as second elements; replacing the first element with a firstidentifier;

generating a second data including the first identifier and the secondelements; and transmitting the second data to the client.

Moreover, according to still another aspect of the present invention,there is provided a computer-readable recording medium that storestherein a computer program. The computer program when executed causes acomputer to execute receiving a processing request from a client,requesting acquisition of data including a plurality of elements from adatabase; acquiring first data and data structure information indicatingassociation between the elements and positioning of the elements in thefirst data from the database in response to the processing request;determining whether to replace each of the elements with an identifierbased on the data structure information to set an element determined tobe replaced with the identifier as a first element and the elementsother than the first element as second elements; replacing the firstelement with a first identifier;

generating a second data including the first identifier and the secondelements; and transmitting the second data to the client.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a configuration example of a database system according to afirst embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 2 is an example of a tuple;

FIG. 3 is an example of XML data equivalently converted from the tupleshown in FIG. 2;

FIG. 4 is an example of three elements of XML data stored in a database;

FIG. 5 depicts a physical memory state of the XML data in the database;

FIG. 6 is a flowchart of a data transfer process procedure performed bya database server;

FIG. 7 is an example of first result data stored in a result-datamanaging unit;

FIG. 8 is an example of a part of a calculation result with respect torespective elements, together with the respective elements in XML dataXD1 to XD3 shown in FIG. 5;

FIG. 9 is an example of second result data stored in the result-datamanaging unit;

FIG. 10 is an example of the second result data and third result dataacquired by a client;

FIG. 11 is a block diagram of a configuration of a database systemaccording to a second embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 12 is an example of a functional configuration of a coordinatorserver and a database server;

FIG. 13 is an example of a data structure of XQuery;

FIG. 14 is an example of a code generated from the XQuery shown in FIG.13 by a request processing unit;

FIG. 15 is a flowchart of a data transfer process procedure performed bythe coordinator server;

FIG. 16 is a flowchart of a data transfer process procedure performed bythe database server; and

FIG. 17 is an example of a configuration in which the coordinator serverincludes an ID-range determining unit.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

Exemplary embodiments of the present invention will be explained belowin detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.

FIG. 1 is a configuration example of a database system according to afirst embodiment of the present invention. The database system accordingto the first embodiment includes a client computer (hereinafter,“client”) 50 that executes an application program, and a database server51, where the client 50 and the database server 51 are connected via anetwork 52. The network 52 is, for example, a local area network (LAN),the Intranet, the Ethernet (Registered Trademark), or the Internet.

The client 50 transmits a processing request such as a data acquisitionrequest for requesting acquisition of data to the database server 51 viathe network 52, and receives the processing result from the databaseserver 51. The database server 51 includes a database 510 that storesdata to acquire data corresponding to the processing request from theclient 50 from the database 510, and generates result data byappropriately processing the data to transmit the result data as theprocessing result to the client 50.

A hardware configuration of the client 50 and the database server 51 isexplained here. The client 50 and the database server 51 respectivelyinclude a controller such as a central processing unit (CPU) thatcontrols the entire apparatus, memories such as a read only memory (ROM)for storing various data and various programs and a random access memory(RAM), an external memory such as a hard disk drive (HDD) or a compactdisk (CD) drive for storing various data and various programs, acommunication controller that communicates with an external computer viathe network 52, and a bus for connecting these with each other, and havea hardware configuration using a normal computer. A display device suchas a display that displays information and an input unit such as akeyboard and a mouse for a user to input various processing requests areconnected to the client 50 and the database server 51 with wire orwirelessly. In such a configuration, the database 510 is stored in theexternal memory included in the database server 51.

The database 510 is a XML database, and stores XML data including atuple. Normally, a relational database (RDB) in which a relationshipbetween the data is modeled is used as the database. In the RDB, thedatabase is expressed by a set of the tuples, which is a fixedarrangement of columns. There is a structured document database, whichmodels a hierarchy structure of document data. This is a so-called XMLdatabase, in which the database is expressed by a set of document dataholding a hierarchical relationship or a sibling relationship of theelement. The XML has high description capability. The tuple can beexpressed as the XML data having a hierarchical relationship of only onetier.

For example, the tuple shown in FIG. 2 can be equivalently converted tothe XML data shown in FIG. 3. In the first embodiment, the XML datadescribed by the XML having high description capability is handled.However, in the first embodiment, the data to be handled is not limitedto the XML data, and the database 510 can be the RDB.

FIG. 4 is an example of three elements of XML data stored in a database510. In the XML, an individual part constituting the document structureis referred to as an element, and described by using a tag.Specifically, in the XML, one element is expressed by putting text databetween two tags, that is, a tag indicating beginning of the element(start tag) and a tag indicating the end of the element (end tag). Thedata put between the start tag and the end tag is a text element (textnode) included in one element expressed by the start tag and the endtag. In the example in FIG. 4, XML data XD1 to XD3 include a pluralityof partial XML data put between <paper> elements. The partial XML dataare data related to a title of a document put between <title> elements,data related to a text of the document put between <body> elements, anddata for each row put between <P> elements. Thus, data having aplurality of hierarchical structures and meanings is present in oneelement of XML data.

FIG. 5 depicts a physical memory state of the XML data in the database510 as the XML database as an example of the database. It is assumedhere that the XML data XD1 to XD3 shown in FIG. 4 are stored in thedatabase 510. The XML data is expressed with an object and a link in aformat similar to a document object model (DOM). The DOM is a model forexpressing the XML data according to an object oriented manner, and apart constituting the XML data is expressed as an object associatedtherewith. For example, an element class is defined in the elementbeforehand, and an attribute class is defined in an attributebeforehand, and these instances are created and expressed. In the DOM,the object is handled as a tree structure (tree). In FIG. 4, there arethree <paper> objects immediately below a <root> object, and the <paper>objects are connected from the <root> object by a link indicating aparent-child relationship. There is a text object indicating text datain the lowermost layer of the object.

Object IDs from “e0” to “e24” are respectively allocated to each object.The object ID can uniquely identify the object in the database 510. Asthe object ID, a physical ID using a file offset indicating a relativeposition in a file can be used. Alternatively, a logical ID can beadditionally used to manage the physical ID and the logical ID in atable in the database.

In such a hardware configuration, various functions to be realized bythe database server 51 by executing various programs stored in thememory and the external memory are explained. The database server 51includes, as shown in FIG. 1, a request receiving unit 511, a requestprocessing unit 512, a result-data managing unit 513, an ID-rangedetermining unit 514, and a result transmitting unit 515. Entities ofthese respective units are generated on, for example, a memory (forexample, a RAM) by the CPU by executing various programs.

The request receiving unit 511 receives a processing request transmittedfrom the client 50. The request processing unit 512 determines whetherthe processing request received by the request receiving unit 511 is adata acquisition request for requesting acquisition of the XML data or areal data acquisition request including a global ID (GID) and requestingacquisition of data of the element constituting the XML data. The GIDincludes database identification information for identifying thedatabase server 51 and the object ID. When the processing request is thenormal data acquisition request, the request processing unit 512acquires the XML data corresponding to the normal data acquisitionrequest from the database 510, and appropriately performs processingsuch as merge or join with respect to the set of the acquired XML datato generate first result data expressed by an XML format. On the otherhand, when the processing request is a real data acquisition request,the request processing unit 512 acquires data of the elementcorresponding to the GID from the database 510, and generates thirdresult data including the element data (identifier) so that the thirdresult data is stored in the result-data managing unit 513.

The ID-range determining unit 514 determines association between theelements and positioning of the respective elements in the first resultdata to determine whether the respective elements are to be replacedwith the GID, for the respective elements included in the first resultdata stored in the result-data managing unit 513. Specifically, theID-range determining unit 514 decomposes the first result data stored inthe result-data managing unit 513 for each element to obtain theassociation between the elements and positioning of the respectiveelements in the first result data. The ID-range determining unit 514calculates a priority indicating a priority degree of transmission forrespective elements based on a predetermined rule described later, byusing the association between the elements and positioning of therespective elements. The association between the elements means aparent-child relationship, and positioning means a position of theelement including the sibling relationship. The ID-range determiningunit 514 then determines whether the respective elements are to bereplaced with the GID by using the priority and a preset threshold. Thatis, the ID-range determining unit 514 determines whether the prioritydegree of transmission is high, that is, the respective elements shouldbe transmitted immediately or should be transmitted at the time ofrequesting real data acquisition, for the respective elements.Accordingly, the ID-range determining unit 514 determines the range ofthe element to be replaced with a GID (ID range) in the XML data. It isassumed here that the threshold is prestored in, for example, the memoryor the external memory. An identification number or an IP addressimparted beforehand to the database 51 can be used for the databaseidentification information. In the database system, when there is onlyone database server, the GID may not include the database identificationinformation. The ID-range determining unit 514 replaces the element, ofthe elements constituting the XML data, determined to be transmitted atthe time of requesting real data acquisition with the GID and generatessecond result data including the GID and other elements constituting theXML data, so that the second result data is stored in the result-datamanaging unit 513.

The result-data managing unit 513 temporarily stores the first to thethird result data as a memory area. The result transmitting unit 515transmits the second result data or the third result data stored in theresult-data managing unit 513 to the client 50 as the processing result.

A data transfer process procedure performed by the database server 51 isexplained next with reference to FIG. 6. The request receiving unit 511of the database server 51 receives the processing request transmittedfrom the client 50 (Step S1). The request processing unit 512 analyzesthe processing request received at Step S1 to determine whether theprocessing request is the data acquisition request or the real dataacquisition request (Step S2). For example, a search condition forsearching for the XML data to be acquired and information for specifyingthe XML data to be acquired are included in the data acquisitionrequest. The GID for specifying the element to be acquired is includedin the real data acquisition request. The request processing unit 512performs determination at Step S2 for the processing request having theabove configuration, and when determining that the processing request isthe data acquisition request (NO at Step S2), the request processingunit 512 acquires the XML data corresponding to the data acquisitionrequest from the database 510 (Step S3). The request processing unit 512then appropriately processes the set of the XML data acquired at StepS3, and generates the first result data expressed in the XML format tostore the first result data in the result-data managing unit 513 (StepS4).

FIG. 7 is an example of the first result data stored in the result-datamanaging unit 513. Two first result data KD1 to KD2 generatedrespectively based on the two elements of XML data XD1 to XD2 shown inFIG. 4 are on the storage area of the result-data managing unit 513 andmanaged in a pointer array to the respective storage areas.

The ID-range determining unit 514 decomposes the first result datastored in the result-data managing unit 513 for each element, andobtains the association between the elements and positioning of therespective elements in the first result data to calculate the priorityof the respective elements based on the predetermined rule (Step S5).

Specifically, the ID-range determining unit 514 calculates the priorityof the respective elements based on the rule using the importanceweighting based on, for example, two criteria described below.

-   -   Importance of structure (path weight: pw)    -   Transmission cost based on size (size)

A value obtained by multiplying inverse numbers of “pw” and “size” isused for the priority. It is assumed that as the value of the prioritybecomes large, the priority to be transmitted immediately is higher.

For example, in the XML data XD1 to XD3 shown in FIG. 5, the prioritywith respect to the respective elements e2 to e8 under <paper> iscalculated in following manner. FIG. 8 is an example of a part of acalculation result with respect to the respective elements, togetherwith the respective elements in the XML data XD1 to XD3 shown in FIG. 5.

(a) Regarding element e2

-   -   pw: title has only one sibling, and therefore element e2 is “1”.    -   The size is assumed to be “4”.

As a result, the priority of element e2 is calculated as “¼×1=¼”.

(b) Regarding element e3

-   -   pw: There is only one sibling. Therefore, pw is multiplied by        host pw to be “1×1=1”.    -   The size is assumed to be “10”, because the text length is “10”.

As a result, the priority of element e3 is calculated as “ 1/10×1=1/10”.

(c) Regarding element e4

-   -   pw: There is only one sibling. Therefore, pw is multiplied by        host pw to be “1×1=1”.    -   The size is assumed to be “4”.

As a result, the priority of element e4 is calculated as “¼×1=¼”.

(d) Regarding element e5

-   -   pw: There are two siblings. Therefore, pw is multiplied by host        pw to be “½×1=½”.    -   The size is assumed to be “4”.

As a result, the priority of element e5 is calculated as “¼×½=⅛”.

(e) Regarding element e6

-   -   pw: There is one sibling. Therefore, pw is multiplied by host pw        to be “½×1=½”.    -   The size is assumed to be “20”, because the text length is “20”.

As a result, the priority of element e6 is calculated as “½× 1/20=1/40”.

(f) Regarding element e7

-   -   pw: There are two siblings. Therefore, pw is multiplied by host        pw to be “1×½=½”.    -   The size is assumed to be “4”, because the text length is “4”.

As a result, the priority of element e7 is calculated as “½×¼=⅛”.

(g) Regarding element e8

-   -   pw: There is one sibling. Therefore, pw is multiplied by host pw        to be “½×1=½”.    -   The size is assumed to be “25”, because the text length is “25”.

As a result, the priority of element e8 is calculated as “½× 1/25=1/50”.

The reason why the size of elements e2, e4, and e5 is assumed to be “4”is to avoid a problem in that the priority of the upper level elementbecomes higher than that of the lower level element. Thus, when the textlength is shorter than “4”, the ID-range determining unit 514 carriesthis to 4, to calculate the priority.

After having calculated the priority of the respective elements in thismanner, the ID-range determining unit 514 determines whether to replacethe respective elements with the GID by using the priority of therespective elements and the preset threshold. That is, the ID-rangedetermining unit 514 determines whether to transmit the respectiveelements immediately or transmit the respective elements at the time ofrequesting real data acquisition (Step S6). It is assumed here that thethreshold is, for example, “ 1/10” by using the priority of therespective elements and the preset threshold. Specifically, the ID-rangedetermining unit 514 determines that the element having priority higherthan the threshold is not replaced with the GID and is transmittedimmediately. In the above example, elements e1, e2, e3, e4, e5, and e7among the elements e1 to e8 are determined to be transmittedimmediately. The remaining elements e6 and e8 are determined to betransmitted at the time of requesting real data acquisition, andreplaced with the GID.

The ID-range determining unit 514 replaces the element determined to betransmitted at the time of requesting real data acquisition, among theelements constituting the first result data (XML data), with the GIDincluding an object ID of the element and database server identificationinformation for identifying the database server 51, and generates thesecond result data including the GID and other elements constituting thefirst result data, so that the second result data is stored in theresult-data managing unit 513 (Step S7). The result transmitting unit515 transmits the second result data to the client 50 as the processingresult (Step S8).

FIG. 9 is an example of the second result data stored in the result-datamanaging unit 513. Two elements of second result data KD11 to KD12respectively generated based on the two XML data XD1 to XD2 shown inFIG. 4 are on the storage area of the result-data managing unit 513, andare managed by the pointer array to the respective storage areas. In thesecond result data in FIG. 9, a part of the elements is replaced withthe GID, as compared with the first result data shown in FIG. 7.Specifically, it is shown that element e6 included in the XML data XD1shown in FIG. 5 is replaced with GID<#ds0, e6#/>, and element e8 isreplaced with GID<#ds0, e8#/>. It is also shown that element e16included in the XML data XD2 is replaced with GID<#ds0, e16#/>. “#ds0”indicates the data identification information, and “e6#”, “e8#”, and“e16#” respectively indicates the object ID.

In a conventional case, the data to be transmitted to the client 50 isthe first result data as shown in FIG. 7, and all the data aretransmitted to the client 50 or are sequentially transmitted by using acommend such as “fetch” or API. On the other hand, in the firstembodiment, the data to be transmitted to the client 50 is the secondresult data as shown in FIG. 9. Accordingly, a transfer amount of datato be transmitted to the client 50 can be reduced considerably, ascompared with the first result data.

Returning to FIG. 6, when the processing request is the real dataacquisition request at Step S2 (YES at Step S2), the request processingunit 512 analyzes the GID included in the real data acquisition requestto acquire the data of the element corresponding to the object IDincluded in the GID from the database 510, and generates the thirdresult data including the data of the element, so that the third resultdata is stored in the result-data managing unit 513 (Step S9). Theresult transmitting unit 515 then transmits the third result data to theclient 50 as the processing result (Step S10).

On the other hand, the client 50 receives the second result datatransmitted from the database server 51 at Step S8 to detect the GIDincluded in the second result data, as required by an application, andtransmits the real data acquisition request including the detected GIDto the database server 51. As a result, the third result data includingthe data of the element corresponding to the GID is transmitted from thedatabase server 51 at Step S10, so that the client 50 can acquire thedata of the element corresponding to the GID. FIG. 10 is an example ofthe second result data and the third result data acquired by the client50. In FIG. 10, GID <#ds0, e6#/> and <#ds0, e8#/> are extracted from thesecond result data KD11, and third result data K21 including the data ofthe respective elements corresponding to the respective GIDs isacquired. The client 50 can acquire data CD1 by replacing the GID in thesecond result data KD11 with the data of the element included in thethird result data K21.

In the application of the client 50, if only the <title> element shownin FIG. 10 is required, even if there is the element replaced with theGID in or below the <body> element, the <body> element itself isskipped. Therefore, the GID in or below the <body> element need not bedetected, and the data of the element corresponding to the GID need notbe acquired. Therefore, acquisition of the useless data can be reduced.

The element determined to have low priority is replaced with the GIDbased on the priority of the respective elements constituting the data,and transmitted to the client 50. Accordingly, transfer of the uselessdata can be reduced while required data is being transferred.

This is because when the data size increases, actually in theapplication of the client 50, only a part of the elements in the data isused, and the subsequent elements are not required. For example, afull-text search is assumed here. In the case of the <paper> elementdescribed above, only a list of the <title> element is required and the<body> may not be required. In the nonstandard data such as the XMLdata, however, the structure thereof is unknown unless the database isactually accessed. Therefore, it is difficult to determine beforehandwhether the element is required by the application of the client 50. Inthe first embodiment, therefore, transfer of useless data can beapproximately reduced by determining beforehand whether the element isrequired on the database server 51 side, which accesses the real data.

FIG. 11 is a block diagram of a configuration of a database systemaccording to a second embodiment of the present invention. The databasesystem according to the second embodiment is a distributed databasesystem. The distributed database system includes the client 50 and adistributed database 60, where the client 50 and the distributeddatabase 60 are connected via the network 52. The distributed database60 has a coordinator server 61 and a plurality of database servers 70Ato 70C.

The client 50 transmits a processing request to the coordinator server61 via the network 52 and receives a processing result from thecoordinator server 61.

The coordinator server 61 is connected to the client 50 and the databaseservers 70A to 70C. The coordinator server 61 receives a search request(query) for requesting search of the XML data corresponding to acondition, or a processing request such as a data acquisition request bycursor fetching, a data acquisition request for requesting acquisitionof specified XML data, or a real data acquisition request for requestingacquisition of data of an element corresponding to the GID, and performsthe processing corresponding to the processing request to transmit aprocessing result to the client 50. When performing the processingcorresponding to the processing request received from the client 50, thecoordinator server 61 makes a processing request to the database servers70A to 70C, receives the processing result from the database servers 70Ato 70C, appropriately processes the processing result to generate resultdata of the processing result, and transmits the result data to theclient 50.

The database server 70A has a database 700A for storing XML data, whichis similar to the database 510, acquires from the database 700A the XMLdata corresponding to the processing request from the coordinator server61, and generates the result data by processing the data, to transmitresult data to the coordinator server 61 as the processing result. Thedatabase server 70B has a database 700B for storing XML data, andrealizes the same function as that of the database server 70A. Thedatabase server 70C has a database 700C for storing XML data, andrealizes the same function as that of the database server 70A.

For example, it is assumed here that the XML data XD1 shown in FIG. 4 isstored in the database 700A, the XML data XD2 is stored in the database700B, and the XML data XD3 is stored in the database 700C. The physicalmemory state of the XML data in the distributed database 60, in whichthe XML data XD1 to XD3 are stored, is the same as that shown in FIG. 5.When the database servers 70A to 70C are not respectively distinguishedfrom each other, these are simply described as the database server 70,and the databases 700A to 700C are not respectively distinguished fromeach other, these are simply described as the database 700.

Generally, in the distributed database, the whole database is oftendivided and allocated to a plurality of database servers in a unit ofdata without superposition. This is referred to as horizontal divisionof the database. Also in the second embodiment, it is assumed that theXML data are stored without superposition respectively in the databases700A to 700C. It is also assumed that the database identificationinformation is respectively allocated to the databases 700A to 700C. Insuch a configuration, the coordinator server 61 needs to make anappropriate processing request to the database server 70 andappropriately process data acquired as a processing result from thedatabase server 70, in order to acquire a processing result satisfyingthe processing request from the client 50.

The configuration of the coordinator server 61 is explained next indetail next. The coordinator server 61 has a hardware configurationusing the normal computer explained in the first embodiment. In such ahardware configuration, various functions to be realized by a CPUincluded in the coordinator server 61 by executing various programsstored in the memory and the external memory are explained. FIG. 12 isan example of a functional configuration of the coordinator server 61and the database server 70. The coordinator server 61 includes a requestreceiving unit 610, a request processing unit 611, a result-datamanaging unit 612, a result receiving unit 613, and a resulttransmitting unit 614. The entities of these respective units aregenerated on, for example, a memory (for example, a RAM) by the CPU byexecuting the various programs.

The request receiving unit 610 receives the processing requesttransmitted from the client 50. The request processing unit 611determines whether the processing request received by the requestreceiving unit 610 is a query (XQuery), a data acquisition request forrequesting acquisition of specified XML data, or a real data acquisitionrequest for requesting acquisition of data of the element correspondingto the XML data. When the processing request is the query, the requestprocessing unit 611 generates a code from the query. A method forgenerating the code from the query is described in, for example, JP-AH06-195382 (KOKAI). The request processing unit 611 transmits thegenerated code to the database server 70, and receives a tenth resultdata generated as the processing result based on the execution result ofthe code from the database server 70 via the result receiving unit 613so that the tenth result data is stored in the result-data managing unit612. The tenth result data includes respective pieces of databaseidentification information of the database servers 70A to 70C, but doesnot include the XML data itself. The request processing unit 611 sums upthe number of items of the tenth result data (read result) to generatean eleventh result data indicating the summed up result, so that theeleventh result data is stored in the result-data managing unit 612.

When the processing request is the data acquisition request, the requestprocessing unit 611 refers to the database identification informationincluded in the tenth result data stored in the result-data managingunit 612 to transmit a data acquisition request for requestingacquisition of the relevant XML data to the database server 70 (at leastone of the database servers 70A to 70C) that stores the XML data. Therequest processing unit 611 also receives a twelfth result dataincluding the XML data acquired in response to the data acquisitionrequest from the database server 70 via the result receiving unit 613,so that the twelfth result data is stored in the result-data managingunit 612.

When the processing request is the real data acquisition request forrequesting the data of the element corresponding to the GID, the requestprocessing unit 611 transmits a real data acquisition request forrequesting acquisition of the data of the element corresponding to theobject ID included in the GID to the database server 70 specified bydatabase specification information included in the GID. The requestprocessing unit 611 receives thirteenth result data including the dataof the element corresponding to the real data acquisition request fromthe database server 70 via the result receiving unit 613, so that thethirteenth result data is stored in the result-data managing unit 612.

The result-data managing unit 612 temporarily stores the tenth to thethirteenth result data as a memory area. The result receiving unit 613receives the data transmitted from the database server 70. The resulttransmitting unit 614 transmits the eleventh result data, the twelfthresult data, or the thirteenth result data stored in the result-datamanaging unit 612 to the client 50 as the processing result.

The XQuery transmitted from the client 50 is explained. The XQuery is afunctional language for query to the database that stores the XML data,and the feature thereof is For-Let-Where-Return (FLWR) syntax. Querylanguage in a relational database (RDB) is SQL. While SQL is declaratorylanguage, XQuery has many features as the functional language. Thelanguage specification of XQuery is explained from a standpoint ofprocedure.

The syntax of for-clause is “for variable in expression”. The syntax offor-clause has a meaning of substituting one satisfying the expressionin the variable to loop. The syntax of let-clause is “letvariable:=expression”. The syntax of let-clause has a meaning of puttingones satisfying the expression together and substituting it in thevariable as a sequence. The sequence is a flat list. A where-clause isfor limiting the loop repeated by F. The syntax of where-clause is“where expression”. The syntax of where-clause has a meaning that onlyone satisfying the expression is looped and others skip the loop. Areturn-clause is for formatting a result of processing of the XQuery.The syntax of return-clause is “return expression”. The syntax ofreturn-clause can describe arbitrary XML data including a variable. Thesyntax of the variable is “$ character string”. The variables having thesame character string are regarded as the same, except for a case thatdouble declarations are made by nested query or the like. As a pathoperator for specifying a hierarchy condition between elements in theXML data, the XQuery includes the following elements.

-   -   “/”: Operator indicating that elements have parent-child        relationship.    -   “//”: Operator indicating that elements have ancestor-descendant        relationship.

“.”: Arbitrary element.

FIG. 13 depicts an XQuery data structure as an example of a queryrequesting acquisition of XML data that fulfils conditions. The XQueryshown in FIG. 4 requests that “a text having a descendant returns datareferred to as paper in the database including “XML”.

FIG. 14 is an example of a code generated by the request processing unit611 from the XQuery shown in FIG. 13. The code indicates a procedure forprocessing the XQuery. A command having a basic function such as directproduct, natural join, or link update is referred to as an operator. Theoperator updates internal data. Input and output between the operatorsis performed by using a pointer of an internal table, an internal tableID, or the like. The code is a sequence of operators, and normally hasan inverse tree structure, designating the operator as a node.

In this example, the code includes the operator and a sequence ofoperands such as:

-   -   scanPath: take out an object ID set of <paper> element    -   scanData: take out text element under <paper> element    -   textContains: leave text element including only “XML”    -   sendXML: return character string expressed in XML format        regarding remaining text element.

For example, when such a code is executed by the database servers 70A to70C that stores any one of the XML data XD1 to XD3 shown in FIG. 4,elements “e1” and “e9” shown in FIG. 5 are left, and a character stringexpressed in the XML format is generated for the element after sendXMLis executed. For example, character strings corresponding to the XMLdata XD1 to XD2 in FIG. 4 are generated.

A functional configuration of the database server 70 is explained nextin detail. The database server 70 includes a request receiving unit 711,a request processing unit 712, a result-data managing unit 713, anID-range determining unit 714, and a result transmitting unit 715 as inthe first embodiment. Points different from the request receiving unit511, the request processing unit 512, the result-data managing unit 513,the ID-range determining unit 514, and the result transmitting unit 515in the first embodiment are described below.

The request receiving unit 711 does not directly receive the processingrequest from the client 50, but receives the processing requesttransmitted from the coordinator server 61 in response to the processingrequest from the client 50. The request processing unit 712 accesses thedatabase 700 in response to the processing request received by therequest receiving unit 711 to read the data, appropriately processes thedata, and temporarily stores the processing result in the result-datamanaging unit 713. Specifically, when the processing request received bythe request receiving unit 711 is the code, the request processing unit712 executes the code, temporarily stores the XML data (twentieth resultdata) acquired as a result in the result-data managing unit 713, togenerate the tenth result data including the same number of pieces ofdatabase identification information as that of the XML data, andtemporarily stores the tenth result data in the result-data managingunit 713. The tenth result data is generated for the coordinator server61 to sum up the number of items of the XML data. For example, it isassumed that the respective XML data stored in the respective databases700A to 700C can be uniquely identified in the respective databases.When the processing request is a data acquisition request, the requestprocessing unit 712 extracts the XML data to be acquired from thetwentieth result data stored in the result-data managing unit 713. Whenthe processing request is a real data acquisition request for requestingacquisition of data of the element corresponding to the GID, the requestprocessing unit 712 reads the data of the element corresponding to theobject ID included in the GID from the database 700 to temporarily storethe thirteenth result data including the data in the result-datamanaging unit 713.

The ID-range determining unit 714 obtains the association between theelements and positioning of the respective elements in the XML data forthe respective elements included in the XML data extracted by therequest processing unit 712, as in the first embodiment, to determinewhether the respective elements are to be replaced with the GID. TheID-range determining unit 714 replaces the element with the GID, of theelement constituting the XML data, determined to be transmitted at thetime of requesting real data acquisition and to be replaced with theGID, and generates the twelfth result data including the GID and otherelements constituting the XML data, to store the twelfth result data inthe result-data managing unit 713.

The result transmitting unit 515 appropriately transmits the tenth tothe thirteenth result data stored in the result-data managing unit 612not to the client 50 but to the coordinator server 61.

A data transfer process procedure performed by the distributed database60 is explained with reference to FIGS. 15 and 16. FIG. 15 is aflowchart of a data transfer process procedure performed by thecoordinator server 61. The request receiving unit 610 in the coordinatorserver 61 receives a processing request transmitted from the client 50(Step S20). The request processing unit 611 determines whether theprocessing request received at Step S20 is a search request (query) or adata acquisition request (Step S21). When the processing request is thequery (YES at Step S21), the request processing unit 611 generates acode for making the respective database servers 70A to 70C search forthe XML data corresponding to the condition (Step S22), and transmitsthese codes to the respective database servers 70A to 70C (Step S23).

When the tenth result data including the same number of pieces of dataidentification information as that of the relevant XML data arerespectively transmitted as a result of execution of the code by therespective database servers 70, the result receiving unit 613 in thecoordinator server 61 receives the tenth result data. The requestprocessing unit 611 stores the tenth result data in the result-datamanaging unit 612 (Step S24). The request processing unit 611 sums upthe number of items of the tenth result data to generate the eleventhresult data indicating the summed up result, so that the eleventh resultdata is stored in the result-data managing unit 612 (Step S25).Thereafter, the result transmitting unit 614 transmits the eleventhresult data as the processing result to the client 50 (Step S26).

There is a case that the client 50 transmits a data acquisition requestto the coordinator server 61 by cursor fetching or the like, afterhaving acquired the eleventh result data indicating the number of items.In this case, the processing request received at Step S20 becomes thedata acquisition request (NO at Step S27), and the coordinator server 61performs processing at and after Step S28.

At Step S28, the request processing unit 611 refers to the databaseidentification information included in the tenth result data stored inthe result-data managing unit 612, to identify the database server 70(at least one of the database servers 70A to 70C) that stores therelevant XML data, and transmits a data acquisition request forrequesting the relevant XML data to the database server 70 (Step S29).

When the database server 70 transmits the twelfth result data includingthe XML data acquired in response to the data acquisition request, theresult receiving unit 613 in the coordinator server 61 receives thetwelfth result data. The request processing unit 611 stores the twelfthresult data in the result-data managing unit 612 (Step S30). The resulttransmitting unit 614 transmits the twelfth result data as theprocessing result to the client 50 (Step S31).

For example, the twelfth result data including the XML data acquired bythe respective database servers 70 in response to the data acquisitionrequest with respect to the XML data KD1 to KD2 shown in FIG. 4 becomesthe same as the second result data KD11 to KD12 shown in FIG. 9.Accordingly, the client 50 acquires the XML data in which a part of theelement is replaced with the GID. After having acquired the XML data,the client 50 may transmit a real data acquisition request forrequesting acquisition of data of the element corresponding to a certainGID, of the elements replaced with the GID, to the coordinator server61, as required in the application. In this case, the processing requestreceived at Step S20 becomes the real data acquisition request forrequesting acquisition of data of the element corresponding to the GID(YES at Step S27), and the coordinator server 61 performs processing atand after Step S32.

At Step S32, the request processing unit 611 transmits the real dataacquisition request for requesting acquisition of data of the elementcorresponding to the object ID included in the GID to the databaseserver 70 specified by the database specification information includedin the GID.

When the database server 70 transmits the thirteenth result dataincluding the data of the element corresponding to the real dataacquisition request, the result receiving unit 613 in the coordinatorserver 61 receives the thirteenth result data. The request processingunit 611 stores the thirteenth result data in the result-data managingunit 612 (Step S33). The result transmitting unit 614 transmits thethirteenth result data as the processing result to the client 50 (StepS34).

In this case, for example, as in the first embodiment, as shown in FIG.10, GID <#ds0, e6#/> and <#ds0, e8#/> are extracted with respect to thetwelfth result data (second result data) KD 11, and the thirteenthresult data (third result data) K21 including the data of each elementcorresponding to each GID is acquired. Because the GID in the twelfthresult data KD11 is replaced with the element included in the thirteenthresult data K21, the client 50 can acquire the data CD1.

A data transfer process procedure performed by the distributed database60 is explained with reference to FIG. 16. The request receiving unit610 in the database server 70 receives a processing request transmittedfrom the client 50 (Step S40). The request processing unit 611determines whether the processing request received at Step S40 is a codeor a data acquisition request (Step S41). When the processing request isthe code (YES at Step S41), the request processing unit 712 executes thecode, temporarily stores the XML data (twentieth result data) acquiredas a result in the result-data managing unit 713, and transmits thetenth result data including the same number of pieces of databaseidentification information as that of the XML data via the resulttransmitting unit 515 (Step S42).

When the processing request received at Step S40 is the data acquisitionrequest (NO at Step S41), the request processing unit 712 determineswhether the data acquisition request is the real data acquisitionrequest for requesting acquisition of data of the element correspondingto the GID (Step S43). When the determination result is negative, therequest processing unit 712 extracts the XML data to be acquired fromthe second result data stored in the result-data managing unit 713 (StepS44). The ID-range determining unit 714 decomposes the XML dataextracted at Step S44 for each element in the same manner as in thefirst embodiment, to obtain the association between the elements andpositioning of the respective elements in the XML data. The ID-rangedetermining unit 714 calculates the priority of the respective elementsbased on the predetermined rule (Step S45), and determines whether therespective elements are to be replaced with the GID by using thepriority and the preset threshold. That is, the ID-range determiningunit 714 determines whether the respective elements are to beimmediately transmitted or transmitted at the time of requesting realdata acquisition (Step S46). The ID-range determining unit 714 replacesthe element determined to be transmitted at the time of requesting realdata acquisition with the GID, of the elements constituting the XMLdata, and generates the twelfth result data including the GID and otherelements constituting the XML data, so that the twelfth result data isstored in the result-data managing unit 713 (Step S47). The resulttransmitting unit 515 transmits the twelfth result data to thecoordinator server 61 (Step S48).

When the processing request received at Step S40 is the real dataacquisition request for requesting acquisition of data of the elementcorresponding to the GID (YES at Step S43), the request processing unit712 reads the data of the element corresponding to the object IDincluded in the GID from the database 700 and temporarily stores thethirteenth result data including the element data in the result-datamanaging unit 713 (Step S49). The result transmitting unit 515 transmitsthe thirteenth result data to the coordinator server 61 (Step S50).

According to the above configuration, transfer of useless data can bereduced in the distributed database, in which data is distributed to aplurality of databases, while transferring necessary data.

In the embodiments, various programs to be executed by the coordinatorserver 61 can be stored on a computer connected to the network such asthe Internet, and downloaded via the network. Further, various programscan be recorded on a computer readable recording medium such as aCD-ROM, a flexible disk (FD), a CD-recordable (CD-R), and a digitalversatile disk (DVD), and provided in an installable or executableformat file. The same applies to various programs executed by thedatabase server 70.

In the embodiments, the ID-range determining unit determines the IDrange by using the threshold; however, the present invention is notlimited thereto. For example, the ID-range determining unit specifiesthe total amount of the transfer size of the result data that can betransferred as the processing result, includes the elements as much aspossible in the result data in decreasing order of priority, and theelement that cannot be included therein can be converted to the GID.

Further, the ID-range determining unit can determine the ID range byusing at least one or at least two combinations of the depth of theelement, the size of the element, and the number of elements of the sametype, that is, the number of elements having the same tag name, whichappear repetitively.

The ID-range determining unit can acquire hint information related tocalculation of the priority from the client 50, to prioritize therespective elements based on the hint information.

Further, the ID-range determining unit can leave a real data acquisitionhistory with the GID, and refer to the real data acquisition history todynamically change a value, for example, by increasing the priority ofthe element having a high acquisition probability.

In the embodiments, the GID is expressed by a special tag. However, theGID can be expressed by using processing instructions (PI). The PI isprovided for embedding a command to a certain application in the XMLdata. In an event-handler based XML parser such as a simple API for XML(SAX), the GID can be detected on the application side of the client 50by defining the GID by the PI event handler.

In the second embodiment, the coordinator server 61 can have thefunction for calculating the priority of the element to determine theGID of the element based on the priority of the element, as in theID-range determining unit 714 of the database server 70. FIG. 17 is anexample of a configuration in which the coordinator server 61 includesan ID-range determining unit 615. According to such a configuration, notonly the database server 70 but also the coordinator server 61determines the ID range, thereby enabling to improve the responsivenessof the client 50.

Further, such a configuration that the database server 70 does notinclude the ID-range determining unit 714 can be also used. In thiscase, the ID-range determining unit 615 in the coordinator server 61 candetermine the ID range for the XML data to be acquired by the client 50to generate data in which the element is appropriately replaced with theGID based on the determination result, and transmit the data to theclient 50.

Additional advantages and modifications will readily occur to thoseskilled in the art. Therefore, the invention in its broader aspects isnot limited to the specific details and representative embodiments shownand described herein. Accordingly, various modifications may be madewithout departing from the spirit or scope of the general inventiveconcept as defined by the appended claims and their equivalents.

1. A server comprising: a receiving unit that receives a firstprocessing request from a client, the first processing requestrequesting acquisition of data including a plurality of elements from adatabase; an acquiring unit that acquires first data including theelements and data structure information indicating association betweenthe elements and positioning of the elements in the first data from thedatabase in response to the first processing request; a determining unitthat determines whether to replace each of the elements with anidentifier based on the data structure information to set an elementdetermined to be replaced with the identifier as a first element and theelements other than the first element as second elements; a generatingunit that replaces the first element with a first identifier andgenerates a second data including the first identifier and the secondelements; and a transmitting unit that transmits the second data to theclient.
 2. The server according to claim 1, wherein the identifierincludes database identification information and an objectidentification.
 3. The server according to claim 1, wherein the firstdetermining unit includes a calculating unit that calculates a priorityof transmission of each of the elements included in the first data basedon the data structure information, and a priority determining unit thatdetermines whether to replace each of the elements with the identifierbased on the priority and a predetermined threshold.
 4. The serveraccording to claim 1, wherein the receiving unit receives the processingrequest via a second server connected to the client, and thetransmitting unit transmits the second data to the client via the secondserver.
 5. The server according to claim 4, wherein the receiving unitreceives a processing code converted into a format executable by theserver from the client via the second server based on a secondprocessing request requesting a search of data, and the acquiring unitincludes a reading unit that reads the first data and the data structureinformation from the database by executing the processing code, a firstgenerating unit that generates result data indicating a result readingthe first data, and a first transmitting unit that transmits the resultdata to the second server.
 6. The server according to claim 5, whereinwhen the receiving unit receives a third processing request requestingacquisition of the first data and the data structure information fromthe client via the second server after receiving the processing code,the determining unit determines whether to replace each of the elementsread by the read unit with the identifier based on the data structureinformation.
 7. The server according to claim 6, further comprising: asecond generating unit that generates, when the receiving unit receivesa fourth processing request requesting acquisition of the first elementreplaced with the first identifier, third data including the firstelement before being replaced with the first identifier; and a thirdtransmitting unit that transmits the third data to the client via thesecond server.
 8. The server according to claim 7, wherein thegenerating unit generates second data in which the first element isreplaced with the first identifier including server specificationinformation for specifying the server and element specificationinformation for specifying the first element in the first data.
 9. Theserver according to claim 8, wherein in a case where the server isspecified by the second server based on the server specificationinformation included in the first identifier, when the receiving unitreceives the fourth processing request requesting acquisition of thefirst element specified by the element specification informationincluded in the first identifier, the second generating unit generatesthe third data including the first element specified by the elementspecification information included in the first identifier.
 10. Theserver according to claim 1, wherein the database includes at least onefirst database from among a plurality of distributed databases, and theacquiring unit acquires the first data and the data structureinformation from the first database in response to the first processingrequest.
 11. The server according to claim 1, wherein the database isconnected to at least one database server having a plurality ofdistributed databases, and the acquiring unit makes a request foracquiring data to the database server to acquire the first data and thedata structure information from the database server in response to thefirst processing request.
 12. The server according to claim 1, whereinat least one of the data, the first data, and the second data isexpressed in extensible markup language, having a hierarchicalstructure.
 13. The server according to claim 12, wherein the firstdetermining unit uses the data structure information to determinewhether to replace each of the elements with the identifier by using atleast one of depth of the element, size of the element, and number ofsame elements appearing repetitively.
 14. A data transfer methodcomprising: receiving a first processing request from a client, thefirst processing request requesting acquisition of data including aplurality of elements from a database; acquiring first data includingthe elements and data structure information indicating associationbetween the elements and positioning of the elements in the first datafrom the database in response to the first processing request;determining whether to replace each of the elements included with anidentifier based on the data structure information to set an elementdetermined to be replaced with the identifier as a first element and theelements other than the first element as second elements; replacing thefirst element with a first identifier; generating a second dataincluding the first identifier and the second elements; and transmittingthe second data to the client.
 15. A computer-readable recording mediumthat stores therein a computer program when executed causing a computerto execute: receiving a first processing request from a client, thefirst processing request requesting acquisition of data including aplurality of elements from a database; acquiring first data includingthe elements and data structure information indicating associationbetween the elements and positioning of the elements in the first datafrom the database in response to the first processing request;determining whether to replace each of the elements with an identifierbased on the data structure information to set an element determined tobe replaced with the identifier as a first element and the elementsother than the first element as second elements; replacing the firstelement with a first identifier; generating a second data including thefirst identifier and the second elements; and transmitting the seconddata to the client.